YouTube, the War, and Music

Isn't YouTube awesome? Someday I'll learn to embed these, but for now here's 3 music videos for your contemplation.

The first focuses on American troops and liberating Iraq from Saddam. It's pretty graphic and relatively pro-war. Of course, anything set to set Johnny Cash's Hurt, is going to portray painful reality of war.

The second is distinctly anti-war. Same song, different perspective. It gets crazy with the Bush-Hitler stuff, but it's still a powerful expression.

The final is Dylan's Masters-of-War. About as anti-war as things get, as sung by a master of anti-war. Watch at your own risk.

For all that people talk about Iraq while wearing suits on Sunday morning talk shows and evening news, I feel like most of us are fairly divorced from the reality of the war. We aren't paying for it with increased taxes (yet) and we don't have rationing. There isn't a depletion of able-bodied men like in WWII or a draft like Nam. You could almost ignore it entirely if you wanted. Some people do.

Any one of these videos is liable to make you think (a hell of a lot harder than Wolf Blitzer will). It's a powerful medium. Think carefully.